STAY IS GRANTED ON PLAN TO RAZE 2 CITY THEATERS

By ARNOLD H. LUBASCH

Published: January 7, 1982

Plans to demolish two theaters to make way for construction of the Portman hotel in the Times Square area were temporarily blocked yesterday by a Federal appeals court. The court acted pending the outcome of accusations that improper political influence had been used to approve the demolition.

The appeals court ruled in Manhattan that demolition of the theaters, the Morosco and the Helen Hayes, must be delayed until a Federal District Court resolved the dispute.

Opponents of the demolition have accused tw o Reagan Administration officials of exerting undue influence to thwa rt efforts to save the theaters, on 45th and 46th Streets west of Br oadway.

Mayor Koch said the city supported the Portman project ''because it fits in with the redevelopment of that area.'' He said he could not comment on the court ruling. Comment by Portman

John C. Portman Jr., the developer, said in a statement that ''we have every confidence that the outcome will be prompt and favorable.''

Sarah Chasis, a spokesman for the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group that filed a suit to save the theaters, said the ruling meant that ''there will be an opportunity for a full examination of the political pressure'' in the case.

The three-page court ruling, by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, was written jointly by a three-judge panel composed of Sterry R. Waterman, Leonard P. Moore and Ellsworth A. Van Graafeiland.

Judge Kevin Thomas Duffy of Federal District Court in Manhattan was directed to issue a preliminary injunction preventing the theater demolition until he disposed of the dispute.

The appeals court said the developers ''claim that any delay will entail considerable expense and that the existence of the project may be at stake because the financial package may collapse.'' Suit Filed in October

However, the court continued, if the demolition is not enjoined, the groups seeking to save the theaters would be ''deprived of all meaningful opportunity to litigate their remaining claim.''

Supporters of the theaters filed suits in October to block the demolition. Judge Duffy refused to grant an injunction to halt the demolition.

The appeals court said the plaintiffs charged that ''the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation was pressured by White House officials into issuing a recommendation'' last November in a move to approve the demolition and preclude consideration of alternative plans.

Although the accusations have been denied, the court said, they raise ''sufficiently serious questions'' ''to make them a fair ground for litigation.''

The accusations said Interior Secretary James G. Watt and a Presidential aide, Lyn Nofziger, intervened to assist construction of the 50-story Portman hotel by speeding approval of plans to demolish the historic theaters.